Bucks County Takes on Big Oil in Climate Crisis Lawsuit

The County of Bucks filed a lawsuit against several major oil companies, charging that these titans of the fossil fuel industry have for decades intentionally deceived the public about their chief product’s role in accelerating the climate crisis.  

As a result of their actions, the suit alleges, Bucks County has suffered and will continue to suffer the catastrophic impacts of climate change, including an emerging pattern of increasingly severe, damaging and at times deadly weather events that have become all too common in the region. 

“In Bucks County we understand it is our responsibility to be good stewards of the environment, and with the public’s support, this administration has established the County as a regional leader on environmental issues,” said Commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie. “It is unconscionable that while we were working hard to reduce our impact on the climate crisis, some of the biggest companies in the world were deliberately undercutting those efforts through their deceptive business practices.” 

 PHOTO: Commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie addresses reporters Monday, March 25, 2024, during a news conference to announce the County’s lawsuit against several major oil companies. Looking on, from left, are Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia, Bucks County Solicitor Amy Fitzpatrick and Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo.

Bucks County’s lawsuit, filed Monday in the county’s Court of Common Pleas, seeks to hold oil giants BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Philips 66, Shell and API financially accountable for the damage their “big tobacco-style” campaign of deception has wrought on the environment. 

The defendants have known for decades, with startling precision, that their products would bring about climate change and destabilization, the suit alleges. And rather than disclose any of this information, they sought instead to deceive the public about the dangers of their products.   

“These companies have known since at least the 1950s that their ways of doing business were having calamitous effects on our planet, and rather than change what they were doing or raise the alarm, they lied to all of us,” said Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo. “The taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for these companies and their greed.”

PHOTO: Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, left, addresses reporters during a news conference on Monday, March 25, 2024, as Commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie looks on. 

Bucks County is the first county government in Pennsylvania to take the fight to big oil in this way.  

Climate change and destabilization has exposed, and will continue to expose, Bucks County and its residents to weather events of growing severity, including storms, heat waves and flooding made worse by the rising tidal waters of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers.   

Following the model established in suits Bucks County brought against PFAS manufacturers, social media giants and opioid companies, this complaint seeks to shift the financial burden of the climate crisis from the taxpayers of Bucks County to the companies responsible for creating the crisis.

“In recent years, we have experienced unprecedented weather events here in Bucks County that have repeatedly put residents and first responders in harm’s way, damaged public and private property and placed undue strain on our infrastructure,” said Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. “We’re already seeing the human and financial tolls of climate change beginning to mount, and if the oil companies’ own data is to be believed, the trend will continue.”  

“This suit is our tool to recoup costs and fund public works projects like bolstering or replacing bridges, retrofitting county-owned buildings and commencing stormwater management projects, all of which will put us in the best possible position to weather what is certain to come,” she added. 

PHOTO: Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia addresses reporters Monday, March 25, 2024, during a news conference to announce the County’s lawsuit against several oil companies for their role in deceiving County residents about the companies’ role in accelerating the climate crisis.

The County is represented in the suit by the law firm DiCello Levitt. The firm is representing the County on a contingent basis and will not be paid in the event the lawsuit is unsuccessful.

Click here to read the full civil complaint.